Doraemon Movie 04: Nobita no Kaitei Kiganjou

The plot revolves around a summer vacation of Nobita and his friends under the waters of Pacific Ocean. Jaian and Suneo take Doraemon's underwater vehicle and travel through the Atlantic Ocean, trying to find a treasure ship.

Along the way, they discover that the environment gun that Doraemon used to protect them is running out of energy leaving them vulnerable to the sea. Fortunately, they are rescued by some marine creatures.

Doraemon and his friends are later captured by these creatures, revealed to be inhabinats of the underwater kingdom of Mu. It is revealed that another undersea kingdom, Atlantis, now controlled by robots, was about to destroy the Earth with nuclear weapons after mistaking a volcano eruption for an invasion.

With the help of a young boy from Mu, Nobita and his friends attempt to stop the robots, but are all captured. However, when things are at their grimmest, Doraemon's robotic underwater vehicle sacrifices itself to destroy the computer that controlled all the robots and nuclear weapons.

After returning to Mu, Doraemon and his friends are hailed as heroes.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Doraemon Main

Ooyama, Nobuyo Japanese

Nobi, Nobita Main

Ohara, Noriko Japanese

Minamoto, Shizuka Main

Nomura, Michiko Japanese

Honekawa, Suneo Main

Kimotsuki, Kaneta Japanese

Gouda, Takeshi Main

Tatekabe, Kazuya Japanese

Nobi, Tamako Supporting

Chijimatsu, Sachiko Japanese

Nobi, Nobisuke Supporting

Katou, Masayuki Japanese

Gouda, Mother Supporting

Aoki, Kazuyo Japanese

Poseidon Supporting

Tomita, Kousei Japanese

Prime Minister of Mu Supporting

Oomiya, Teiji Japanese

Shibayama, Tsutomu Director

Urakami, Yasuo Sound Director

Takeda, Tetsuya Theme Song Lyrics

Fujiko, Fujio F. Original Creator

Reviews

Mar 16, 2024

albertonykus

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

My overall take: Probably worth watching just for how strange it is as a Doraemon movie!

In this movie, Nobita and his friends go on a camping trip at the bottom of the ocean. This is a very... interesting Doraemon movie. The first two-thirds feel a bit like a watered-down episode of The Magic School Bus (which this film predates, by the way), complete with traveling in a futuristic vehicle. This is interspersed with the usual fun sequences in which they use Doraemon's gadgets to obtain food and accommodation.

Throughout the movie, there are hints of something bigger going on, but the protagonists don't really get involved ... with the main conflict until there's only about half an hour left in the movie, and it's then that they get drawn into... an underwater nuclear war instigated by a rogue AI. I am not making this up.

I can see the first half of the movie potentially being a bit boring to some viewers, though to me the character interactions and the undersea theme are enough to keep it interesting, especially considering how little we knew about the deep sea in the 1980s. The Doraemon protagonists generally seem like better friends in the movies than in the main series, and that's on full display here.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 28, 2023

InfinityDude88

Not Recommended

4 movies in and a distinct formula is definitely starting to set in. Structurally, this film is extremely similar to the previous film (which I had plenty of issues at the time - read that review for more details), with the gang proposing a trip followed by an hour or so of light adventure before the sudden reveal of a hidden society two thirds through culminating in a major battle at the end. Unfortunately this time around I found the ocean exploration to be rather dull, slow and boring. Some minor tension is introduced at a few points thanks to encounters with unknown creatures and ... the power of their talking buggy, however it is otherwise a slog to get through. The latter portion of the movie was also a relative let down with the underwater society being bland and only a single new character being introduced who himself was totally unremarkable. While the film does offer a slight degree of educational value for children, such as the explanation of evolution and information on the Bermuda Triangle, it still does not deliver enough to be worth a watch in that regard. If anything, kids too would likely get tired of the dragged out underwater exploration. The animation and sound is also nothing special, with its age obviously showing and even being subpar compared to other Doraemon films from the time. Overall, Doraemon the Movie: Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil is the weakest movie in the franchise thus far, having a slow and dull plot, uninteresting new characters and locations and relatively poor animation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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